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PART II. 



NARRATIVE OF THE MUTINY, IN DECEMBER, 1811. 



Colonel Beatson's Report to the Honourable the Court of Directors for the 

 Affairs of the United East India Company. 



Honourable Sirs, 



A MOST daring mutiny having broken out in the St. Helena 

 infantry, on the night of the 23(1 ult. for the avowed purpose of 

 seizing my person, and subverting this government, it becomes 

 my duty to lay before you a general view of the causes which led 

 to these licentious, and highly criminal proceedings ; together 

 with a detail of every circumstance that occurred, as well as the 

 measures I adopted, from the commencement of the mutiny, until 

 the surrender of the mutineers ; which happily led to the com- 

 plete re-establishment of military subordination. 



Your Honourable Court is well aware of the state of St. Helena 

 at the time you did me the honour to appoint me to this govern 

 ment. On my arrival in July, 1808, I found a population of 

 3600 living almost wholly upon the public stores ; and obtaining 

 most of the necessaries of life in profusion, at prices not exceeding 

 one third of the prime cost. The consequences of so unprecedented 

 a system (as might naturally be expected) were the neglect of 

 cultivation, — the decline of industry, — and an immense augmenta- 

 tion in the annual charges of the island. 



